Dining Out: Untamed cuisine unleashed on RGE RD

Chef Blair Lebsack and his business (and life) partner, Caitlin Fulton, opened their new restaurant in mid-July.

Photographed by:Bruce Edwards, Edmonton Journal

DINING OUT

Restaurant: RGE RD

Location: 10623 123rd St.

Reservations: 780-447-4577, rgerd.ca

Dinner for two, without liquor: about $100-$120

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EDMONTON - Chef Blair Lebsack and partner Caitlin Fulton put their hearts and souls into the creation of their new restaurant, RGE RD.

Happily for diners, it shows in every detail, from the warm and whimsical decor to the self-described untamed cuisine on the menu.

Lebsack is among the current wave of chefs who believes in foraging and skinning and scraping his way to fine food, using hyper-local ingredients and every part of the animal.

That explains the presence of items like “urban greens” and dandelion vinaigrette and bone marrow and apple fennel-sausage made in-house on the menu.

It also accounts for an entree called “the Whole Hog,” served in two courses; first, a pork-belly, arugula and fennel appetizer followed by pork loin with smoked hock and beans.

But by far the most intriguing and playfully named offering in this category is “Questionable Bits,” a daily-changing dish into which Lebsack chucks whatever odd pieces of beast don’t fit comfortably onto the traditional dinner plate. Our server bravely used the word offal in describing it, an unfortunate homonym for those already put off by the thought of eating the less familiar parts of an animal.

On the night we were there (and were, of course, compelled to try it), the bits in question were chicken hearts and livers tossed in a creamy risotto ($15), a wonderful backdrop to the organ meat. The liver, often way overcooked and then ground up to hide this failing (at least in my own, Semitic culture), was pinkly, perfectly, sautéed instead.

To counter the rich starter, we tried the green bean salad ($8/$12), a dish so refreshing, so screaming of summer, it’s hard to believe the main ingredient is a humble bean. Grilling the little guys (in what must be a painstaking process) certainly steps up the flavour, but laying them on a bed of savoury lemon curd is pure genius. Add some delicate mushrooms, a silky poached egg and a sprinkling of pecorino and the result is undeniably delicious.

Producer acknowledgments also extend to the tomatoes (Gull Valley), the pecorino (the Cheesiry) and the olive oil (Mighty Trio), reflecting the desire of both chefs and diners to recognize where our food comes from.

For mains, we tried the pickerel ($26), a mild fish accompanied by colourful, flavourful stewed peppers and green pea purée, with a wee dollop of fresh ricotta, all on a bed of yummy, sliced rotolo (rolled pasta).

The bison ($29) came halfway between medium rare and medium in that just-right shade of pink, topped with pickled walnuts and a bit of smoked bone marrow, a popular ingredient whose appeal is lost on me, perhaps because of its lard-like texture and its association in my brain with the word “transplant.” But that’s just me.

Alongside came a mix of barley and kohlrabi, two classic prairie ingredients — the barley tender but firm, the kohlrabi adding a bit of extra texture and a pleasant, radish-y bite.

For though who prefer to eschew rather than chew when it comes to meat, there’s a vegetarian entree — lentils with spicy tomato coulis.

Adventurous food travellers can choose to embark on a “RGE RD trip” full of culinary surprises from the chef, a multi-course mystery tour for $70 and up per person.

Dessert options are kept delectably local in the same, no-nonsense way as the rest of the menu, with offerings like apple galette and homemade s’mores.

We went for the pavlova ($8), a crisp-chewy puff of meringue topped with whipped cream and strawberries that tasted liked they’d been picked mere hours before. The maple verrine ($7) was composed of three parts — a Sailor Jerry rum jelly topped with a layer of maple cream, finished with chunks of crunchy hazelnut streusel.

Much like the food, the decor is stylish without being fussy, clearly put together with great care. My partner dubbed it “barnpunk,” like a prairie version of steampunk — exposed light bulbs, chains and, in the bathroom, copper pipe, mixed with salvaged wood and found farm items.

The floors are barnboard; the main light fixture is a weathered, wooden crank from an old seed mill wrapped in electrical cord and exposed bulbs. Artfully arranged cut wood (presumably for the kitchen’s showpiece wood-fired oven) sits in wall-mounted boxes around the room.

Service on the night we visited was good, considering it was one of RGE RD’s first few nights open and its first full house, coming on the day of Journal food writer Liane Faulder’s interesting and thorough piece about the restaurant’s birth.

RGE RD’s tag line — “at the intersection of farm, food and friends” — is apt, metaphorically, though more literally, it’s at the intersection of Jiffy Vacuum and a series of walk-ups that compete for the on-street parking.